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Getting Mayor Christenson on Our Side: THINGS TO ADDRESS IN OUR LETTER!


How will the rise in the MBTA bus fares affect any students at Malden High School?


  • The raising of the bus fares will affect students at Malden High because many students take the bus to and from school everyday, and paying the same amount.

  • Some students who attend MHS will have a difficult time affording the raise in bus fares by 23%, so we had the idea of helping those in need with supplying them with free buss passes. Just like how some kids get reduced lunch, this would some what be the same thing. Helping those who don's enough money to uses the public transportation to get to and from school.

  • As of right now, April 1st 2012, to ride the MBTA bus it costs:

$1.25 CharlieCard
$1.50 CharlieTicket / Cash-on-board
$40 Monthly Bus Pass
$59 LinkPass - unlimited travel on Local Bus and Subway.

IMAGINE THIS INCREASING BY 23%. THIS NEGATIVELY AFFECTS EVERYONE WHO USES PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, ESPECIALLY MANY STUDENTS WHO WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO AFFORD RIDING THE BUS TO/FROM SCHOOL EVERY DAY.



Information We Have Found Out:


  • We, the period 6 Generation Citizen class have until July 1st to either prevent the raise from increasing by 23% or supplying Malden High students with free bus passes for school purposes only.


  • A single subway ride will go up from the current $1.70 to $2.


  • A single bus ride will now cost $1.50.

  • Bus fares for students and seniors will now cost 75-cents each.

  • The student weekly pass for Monday-Friday will increase to $25. It’s currently $20

  • A 7-day student pass will be introduced at a cost of $28

There is a lot more information at this website.

The Mayor

This is what we're saying to the Mayor in our letter:

Dear Mayor Christenson,
Hello, we are students from Malden High School. We are working on a Generation Citizen project in our history class on the MBTA bus fares increasing by 23%. This problem affects us, as students, because some students would have a hard time paying for buses if the bus fares increase. We would like your support in order to help students defray bus fares. We are also trying to find ways to raise awareness of the issues to the students of Malden High. We think that it'd be a great idea if you came to one of our classes to examine what we are working on.We want to show you some of our ideas and plans on what we are trying to accomplish. It would be fantastic if you would be able to take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to reply so we can schedule a time when you could attend our class. It would be most helpful to us if you can attend on one of the following days: Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 and Thursday, May 10th 2012.
Contact us at: mhsmbtabuscuts@gmail.com

Thank you!
Julia Vanella
Jillian Powers
Haline Cunha
Tracey Shiwala
Sam Wong

The Plan

{Step 1 being our first action and Step 8 being our goal}


  1. Getting a meeting in a place with Mayor.

  2. Telling him the issue; Prices go up, student riders go down.
  3. Solution Get students to volunteer in order to clean up buses so cleaning rates go down for MBTA.
  4. Get him to organize a public meeting at MHS Auditorium to get all Citizens involved.
  5. Get him to approve our idea.
  6. Get interviews with him on youtube and get him on OUR side.
  7. Contact the MBTA service, to explain about what we are willing to do to lower prices down.
  8. FINALLY - Get all Malden students and citizens involved.

What we're going to tell Ms.Allen to get her to contact the Mayor

Thank you for the huge help you've offered us. But is there a way that you could help us contact the mayor to show him what we have been working on? -Tracey Shiwala